THIS CONCERNS ME AS A HUMAN BEING

Maine News come up on my nightly google alert. This bugs me. What is it about religion? Why are there so many rabid people in religion. Personally I don't care who adopts as long as its ethical and in the best interest of the child. I am reminded of a poem that is often put out by the unions.

When people go after rights of another group, we have issues. Because honestly its just a matter of time before they come after your rights.

Here is the link. Here is the story:

"ROCKPORT — While the Christian Civic League of Maine gathers signatures seeking to force a vote to remove equal rights protections for Maine’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens, a group called Equality Maine is spreading the word against the proposal.

Lucie Bauer of Rockport, a member of Equality Maine, was at the polls Tuesday, June 10, to inform residents of the possibility that a vote on this matter could be coming up. She also asked people to sign a pledge to vote against anti gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender initiatives. Other members of Equality Maine were at 35 polling places around the state, that day.

In November 2005 statewide referendum, Mainers upheld a law enacted earlier in same year to extend civil rights protection to gays and lesbians.

The law therefore prohibits discrimination against someone based on sexual orientation in regard to employment, credit, education, housing and public accommodations. The law already protected people in those areas based on gender, nationality, religion, age and disabilities.

Then the Christian Civic League announced this year they would circulate petitions for a referendum question to ask voters to approve “an act to remove protections based on sexual orientation from the Maine Human Rights Act, eliminate funding of civil rights teams and public rights teams in schools, prohibit adoptions by unmarried couples, add a definition of marriage, and declare civil unions unlawful.”

According to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office, the League needs 55,087 signatures to get this question on the ballot, which is 10 percent of the numbers of those who voted in last gubernatorial election. The League has one year, from the time it gets the first signature, to collect them all.

“They want to strip gay, lesbian, and transgender Mainers of basic protections. Basically, they want to undo the 2005 vote,” Bauer said.

The Rockport woman said she gathered 50 signatures pretty quickly and was not at the polls during the peak times. She is unsure how successful the League has been in its signature gathering, but is hopeful they won’t get too far.

The following is the entire bill’s summary:

“This initiated bill removes from the Maine Human Rights Act prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and education. It provides that state funds may not be used by the attorney general’s office for its civil rights teams or for civil rights programs in public schools. It provides only one unmarried person or one married couple jointly may adopt a person, although Maine law currently prohibit marriage of persons of the same sex, the initiated bill adds language stating that clerk may not issue marriage licenses to persons of the same sex. The bill also adds a definition of marriage in the laws governing marriage as the state license union of one man and one woman for life unless dissolved pursuant to the laws governing divorce. The bill prohibits municipalities from licensing civil unions and denies recognition in Maine to civil unions licensed in other states.”

The civil rights portion of the proposal is bothersome because schools’ civil rights programs help to combat bullying in all forms, not just gay students but all students who may be different, Bauer said. Prohibiting adoption by gays and lesbians also is not in the best interest of children, she said.

“I wish the CCLM would put its energy into helping our state’s most vulnerable members survive the crisis brought about by a rapidly disappearing safety net, high energy costs, and loss of basic services. That would be a far more Christian effort than attempting to scapegoat fellow Mainers,” Bauer wrote in an e-mail.

According to the Equality Maine Web site, the group also intends to be at the polls in November."